CE News!

Hello, Readers, Supporters, Friends ~  

I’ve been intending to write this post for a while, with a smidge of hesitation to get started. This is the ‘scary exciting’ news I hinted at early in the season. Scary because the risk of failure is so real. Exciting because it involves learning, creating, and sharing, and I love all those things!

During year one of the pandemic/growing season 2020, I had opportunity to spend long stretches and frequent moments of quality time in the yard. It was like I noticed everything with new eyes and heightened understanding. It was joyful. I shared this joy with a group of friends via text messages I called “ecomoji”. There was no ‘text’ actually; just little images – like emoji and with a feel – made by Nature.

In 2021, fortunate to still have time to pursue what my biological spirit was craving, I started the blog you are reading now. I called Create Ecology my COVID-era passion project, uncertain if anyone would care about what I was writing, hopeful that folks would enjoy the seasonal photos and learn a thing or two, and at the very least, feel even the bittiest spark to get curious about the ecology right-smack where they live. 

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I already had a stirring in my soul? heart? brain? all of them? that CE become something more, but was not sure what that more could or should be. 

I thought about: Garden designer. Garden helper. Garden-sitter. All of these appeal to me, and I am still open to possibly pursuing them. Yet, I so much enjoy spending time at my own place as the growing season begins, I know I’d feel a sense of loss to give too much of myself away at that time of year. 

When in-person events opened again in 2022, I finally got to put my Master Composter “hat” on and share basics, tips, and tricks about backyard composting with my local community. Loved it! And the time commitment is not huge. I have certainty that education must always be part of what CE provides.

What Else??

A year ago, I was growing all the things for my niece’s September bridal bouquet plus posies and boutonnieres for the wedding party. I learned a ton and reveled in every step of it, from choosing seeds, growing and drying flowers, making recipes, testing random greenery for cutting, arranging and breathing in the scent of it all. (Each time I brush the sage in the garden this year, it takes me right back to the wedding weekend. …ahhhhhh…)

I was watching a ton of YouTube videos, reading gardening blogs, checking-out library books about floral design, and began daydreaming. I could picture my flower farm to every detail, including the way the evening sun would embrace blush and bubblegum-colored petals, bees visiting bloom upon bloom, gentle breeze nudging each stem to sway, cottontails lounging in shady spots, long ears pivoting while wrens sing. 

But… I haven’t won the lottery to buy a truly farmable parcel of land (I gave myself five chances to win PowerBall) and the sudden eruption of the flower farming fad parallel with the reprise of victory gardens makes me a little suspect about sustainable market trends. So that dreamy vision will stay dreamy for now. Mostly.

So?? What Will Be Happening??

I’m making some proper new annual beds here. Super small scale. Enough to have a cutting garden to play in and experiment. Enough to sell pollinator-friendly, no ‘cides, local, slow flower bouquets and arrangements. I did a bit more wedding work last month, and hope to continue to offer that. I’m taking a “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” mentality and growing more things on a tiny scale. Things I hope to share. Things I hope a few people will value enough to buy.

I attended my first garden bloggers’ event a couple weeks ago. Someone ‘in the biz’ asked me at dinner if I intended to monetize Create Ecology. While I do think about social media pop-up announcements! A YouTube channel! Letting my website make money for me! I know that now is not the time. And some of those things don’t align with my values. For now? I will be looking for little ways to sell fresh bouquets and natural, creative dry items. 

That’s the news. Scary – but did I mention this will be incredibly small scale? – so not too scary 😉. Exciting? YES! Need for time spent out of the yard and doing schedule-y, financial-y, computer-y stuff? Yes. (Will save those tasks for the hottest parts of the day!) Stuff I need to learn? Heck yes!

Thanks for being here with me.

And at your place? Keep growing, too.

See you Monday with the next bun.